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Monday, April 23, 2012

Chuck Colson's final warning: Get Moving


(Charles "Chuck" Colson)
The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview offers a series of “Two–Minute Warnings with Chuck Colson,” which its website describes as “hard-hitting video commentary on the news and culture topics that matter to you.”

Colson, certainly no stranger to the news, has made a number of “hard-hitting” headlines of his own.  Formerly known as Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” Colson was one of the Watergate Seven that Wikipedia reports “pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg.”
He also has the dubious distinction of being “the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.”

If that were all there were, people would not be mourning Colson’s death the way they have been recently.  In 1973, Colson experienced a conversion that radically moved him along the sinner-to-saint continuum.  This was not just a jailhouse-related ploy, but rather a lasting change.   It began with a reading of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, and continued to gather momentum.  Since then, Colson has walked his talk in the following ways:  he founded Prison Fellowship and Justice Fellowship, both of which promote reform in the criminal justice system; and has worked tirelessly promoting “ChristianWorldview” via radio, video, books, newsletters, speaking engagements, etc.

His final Two-Minute Warning, titled Get Moving, is dated April 17, 2012 (four days before Colson’s death).  The promo for this video asks readers:  Do you want to be part of the cutting edge of societal transformation?  The question is then answered in this manner:  Develop a robust Christian worldview.  Come explore the Colson Center.

Colson begins the video with a reference to a book, How Now Shall We Live, that he coauthored approximately 12 years ago.  He then goes on to explain that Christianity is not simply a personal relationship of “just Jesus and me,” but rather a movement “to renew culture and reawaken the world to Christ.”  In order to do this, he warns:  “Don’t stand on the sidelines wringing your hands – get going!”

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson
http://www.colsoncenter.org/twominutewarning

Copyright April 23, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved









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